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UTEC's Geoff Foster literally in it for the kids

By Katie Lannan, klannan@lowellsun.com

Updated:
04/12/2013 08:57:35 AM EDT

Geoff Foster, associate director of political action at the United Teen Equality Center in Lowell, deflects the accolades he receives for winning the Youth Worker of the Year award from Health Resources in Action. Instead, he credits all in Lowell who work to help kids. "I think that in years to come, people will really point to Lowell as an innovator in its youth development." SUN photos/David H. Brow

LOWELL -- The Mill City came out on top in the recent bestowing of the Youthie Awards, statewide prizes for youth-work professionals, given out by Health Resources in Action.

Lowell Community Health Center's Teen Block took home the group award for Youth Work of the Year, while Geoff Foster of the United Teen Equality Center was named Youth Worker of the Year.

At UTEC, Foster oversees a statewide youth organizing coalition called Teens Leading the Way, as well as the Vote 17 initiative aimed at lowering the voting age in the city. Foster said seeing both Youthie Awards come to Lowell was a recognition of the city's focus on youth development and empowerment -- priorities of his as well.

Q: You're UTEC's associate director of political action.

Geoff Foster, associate director of political action for the United Teen Equality Center in Lowell, second from right, talks with UTEC members, from left, Francisco Reyes, 18, Ricardo Santiago, 22, and Richard Pagan, 21. Foster received the Youth Worker of the Year award from Health Resources in Action.
SUN/David H. Brow

A: I'm trying to figure that out. No, no, in essence, I'm responsible for the youth organizing department. In addition to running the workforce development programming and education programming, an alternative school, we also believe that it's a responsibility within UTEC for us to programmatically empower young people to address changes with our community that either contribute to their social and economic situation, or are just more community-based, like recycling.

Q: So how is Vote 17 going since there have been some obstacles in the past?

A: We got past the big ones.

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The obstacle in the past was the secretary of state deeming the bill unconstitutional, but then with the help of the city solicitor here in Lowell, and a statement from professor Laurence Tribe from Harvard, a constitutional scholar, the secretary of state dropped his concerns, with some amendments made. It was really neat. Then what happened was we kind of ran out of time last year, so the teams are preparing again now.

Geoff Foster, associate director of political action at UTEC, shows a T-shirt promoting UTEC's Vote 17 drive, which would allow 17-year-olds to vote in city elections and which he helped coordinate. The measure has a chance of being approved by the state Legislature this session. SUN/David H. Brow

A: My job is, on the one hand, to help with the campaign work, but really at the end of the day, my campaign is the young people themselves. A good campaign for me is when a young person starts with us and they don't want to go college, but then they go on and end up using their youth-organizing skills. Outside of passed legislation, that really is the victory for me. I'm excited because the team really is excited.

Q: Is the set of issues that matter to young people different than what adults, people in power and the city at large are talking about?

A: No, I think there are actually a lot of common issues. This has been one of the treats -- every two years, when we have candidate forums, we find that any and all candidates and our young people, when they come together, are talking as equals. I don't recall a time when our young people disagreed with our candidates. When our young people get engaged, they start to talk about things like, how do we better our education, how do we better our downtown, how do we better the parks. We find that, as we engage, those are the same issues that the School Committee and the City Council are asking about.

Q: Is this a generational thing, or is youth work and youth organizing something older people should care about as well?

A: What we've found doing this, a majority of our campaigns end up structurally creating opportunities for young people to come together with adults. We helped form the governor's statewide youth council, we've filed legislation to try and get more funding for youth centers across the state, which resulted in a lot of opportunities for young people to sit down with the people actually doing the budgets. I think of youth organizing not so much as a threat to power, but as an opportunity to enrich our democracy.

Q: How did you get started with youth organizing?

A: I originally started organizing at UMass Lowell, against the fee hikes that came as the result of the UMass board of trustees raising our student fees a significant amount. I was organizing on campus here, as well as with organizers across the different campuses, to fight those. I started to get really interested in grass-roots organizing as a trade and something I wanted to continue doing. In addition to that, I was working with a friend at the Alternative House here in Lowell. It was kind of an intersection of doing the youth work that I love, with community organizing. I noticed right when I graduated that UTEC had a unique position.

Q: Was the job tailor-made for you?

A: I think it's a perfect balance. Being youth workers, we're kind of providing support resources and opportunities to young people for youth development, which is, on the one hand, really intentional, really structured on our end. The other side is where you really are empowering the young people to organize their own changes.

Q: It seems surprising that something as specialized as youth work would have its own set of awards. Is it that big of a field or an industry?

A: When I first started, I didn't realize this was indeed a field, that there are professionals and there are professional ways to do youth work. That's why I love UTEC so much. They employ positive youth-development practices, providing a three-pronged approach of providing services, resources and opportunities. It's a very successful way to empower our young people.

Q: How did you win this Youth Worker of the Year award?

A: It's like an election. First you get nominated, and finalists are selected based on the deciding panel. Then what they do is they open it up to youth work across the region to vote.

Q: What was your reaction when you found out you won?

A: I was obviously humbled to win this, but I really want to sidestep the notoriety and point the credit at all the people across the city who are doing really great youth work, and how we all work together. I think that in years to come, people will really point to Lowell as an innovator in its youth development.

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